FAQ

The Castle Hill Pathfinder club is a church-centred spiritual-recreational program designed for young people 10 to 15 years of age (or in school years 5 to 10). It is filled with action, adventure, challenges and group activities, and provides opportunities for the development of new attitudes and skills, personal growth, community spirit and a sense of loyalty and respect for God, His creation and His church. The objectives of our club are:

1. Help the Pathfinder to understand that God loves them, cares for them, and appreciates them.
2. Encourage Pathfinders to discover their own God-given potential.
3. Inspire Pathfinders to give personal expression of their love for God.
4. Make a priority of the club program the personal salvation of every Pathfinder.
5. Build into a Pathfinder’s life a healthy appreciation and love for God’s creation.
6. Teach Pathfinders specific skills and hobbies that will make their lives more meaningful and will occupy their time with profitable accomplishments.
7. Encourage the Pathfinder to keep physically fit.
8. Give opportunity to develop and enlist leadership.
9. Seek to foster the harmonious development of the physical, social, intellectual and spiritual life of the Pathfinder.

To assist in achieving these objectives, the Pathfinder club has standards, symbols, uniform and a constitution. The Pathfinder club flag, bearing the Pathfinder emblem, is displayed at regular club and Pathfinder programs. There is a full dress uniform and a field uniform. The Pathfinder Pledge and Law highlights the spiritual basis on which the club is built.

Young people 10 to 15 years of age (or in school years 5 to 10) may become members of the club. The first class, “Friend”, is designed for the average ten-year-old and is structured in keeping with their physical and intellectual abilities. To join the club you must be at least 10 years of age or commencing year 5 or above.

Club meetings are generally held monthly and run from 3:30pm to 8:30pm on a Saturday afternoon. During club meetings Pathfinders participate in club pursuits (learning games), class pursuits (with their individual age group), have dinner and participate in crafts. During the regular meetings the Pathfinders may take part in drill and marching, crafts and/or hobbies, games, devotional activities, honours, seminars and classwork. We may also use club meeting times to participate in community events such as our annual Tinned Food drive.

The Pathfinder club will run a minimum of forty hours of pursuits (learning activities / games) a year, which are divided into four categories: Self, God, Community and Nature. Approximately ten hours of pursuits are devoted to each category.

Castle Hill Pathfinders runs the “Way to Go” programme which divides the club into three levels: junior, intermediate and senior. There are six achievement classes, two per level, which are identified by the following names/colours:

• Friend – blue – age 10/year 5
• Companion – red – age 11/year 6
• Explorer – green – age 12/year 7
• Ranger – black/grey – age 13/year 8
• Voyager – brown – age 14/year 9
• Guide – gold – age 15/year 10

At the conclusion of the classwork requirements and testing, the Pathfinder receives a badge, a pocket strip and chevron at a special Investiture service at Church in late November or early December.

To be invested and receive the relevant Class Badge at the end of the year, each Pathfinder must attend a minimum proportion of scheduled events and complete a minimum number of pursuit hours. Pathfinders can earn an Advanced Badge by participating in a greater proportion of the programme, as follows:

	Class Badge	Class Badge plus Advanced Badge
Attendance	75% of all scheduled events	90% of all scheduled events
Pursuits completed	75% (30 hours)	90% (36 hours)
Honours completed	2 (compulsory honours)	5 (including 2 compulsory honours)

The two compulsory honours will be completed during club meetings. For Pathfinders who wish to earn the Advanced Badge, they will very likely need to complete additional honours on their own time; the club will facilitate this, but it is up to the Pathfinder to motivate themselves to do this additional work at home.

All work must be completed to a satisfactory level and returned for marking prior to District Director testing, which is usually held in November at the meeting prior to Investiture.

Castle Hill Pathfinder Club usually participates in four camps per year. Two base camps, where we are able to drive the cars to the camping spots, and two hiking camps where the Pathfinders will have to carry all their camping gear in a backpack. One of these hiking camps is the Expedition, which is run by the Conference for all Pathfinder clubs in Greater Sydney.

We encourage all Pathfinders to be self sufficient and independent and this is especially important during camps. Pathfinders will be encouraged look after and carry all of their own equipment, cook their own meals, set up their tent and generally manage their own needs for the weekend.

Castle Hill Pathfinder Club owns a number of two-person and three-person hiking tents. These tents are lightweight and are split between two or three pathfinders when hiking – so one person would carry the poles / fly and the other would carry the pegs / tent. These tents are transported to each camp and distributed as needed. They are returned to the club, clean and dry at the end of each event. From time to time replacements are needed for tents and our fundraising contributes to this. You do not need to buy your Pathfinder a tent. Counsellors will allocate Pathfinders to share tents with others on a rotating basis. For hiking camps, please see our list of recommended equipment that each Pathfinder will need. It is preferable that a child’s pack does not weigh more than a third of their body weight when fully packed with water and tent; so when acquiring equipment please consider the warmth, weight and the suitability of each item. Remember that our hiking camps are often in winter.

There are additional costs for each camp. The camp fee covers transport, campground fees and/or National Park entrance fees, plus any costs associated with the activities for the weekend. We try to keep these costs to a minimum and will outline the costs prior to each camp. Every person attending a camp needs to complete an online application form, which includes all medical and emergency information, and forms part of our risk assessment that is completed prior to each camp. All applications and payments must be received before the camp, otherwise the Pathfinder is unable to attend.

Generally there will be either a Camporee or a Fair every year, alternating from year to year.

Camporees are organised alternately by the Greater Sydney Conference (twice in 8 years), the Australian Union (once in 8 years) and the South Pacific Division (once in 8 years).

In each year which does not have a Camporee, the Greater Sydney Conference runs a Fair. This is a Sunday event, where all the clubs get together and compete in various games demonstrating their outdoor skills in lashings, knots, first aid and fire lighting.

Pathfinders has both a formal dress uniform and an informal field uniform. The field uniform consists of a polo shirt and a t-shirt, with the polo to be worn at club meetings and the t-shirt for camping. Our Uniform page has more information. You can order club uniforms when you register for the year.

Dress uniforms are worn for special occasions such as Investiture, and the ANZAC Parade. They are available from the Adventist Book Centre at 4 Cambridge Street, Epping. The club has some dress uniform pants, skirts and shirts which can be hired for the year for a small fee.

It is important that we are able to communicate with all parents and Pathfinders through the year. We understand that we all communicate in different ways so we have a number methods by which we can stay in touch.

• Firstly, all email addresses that are used on our registration forms will be added to a Google Group. This is our main distribution list so that we can forward information to you by email.
• We have a Facebook group called Castle Hill Pathfinders which you can ask to join.
• This web site is your source for reference information, and is where you need to come to register for camps.
• We are always available to talk to you in person, on the phone, or by email should you have any questions or concerns.
• Use our Contact page to get in touch.

There is a lot of work to make the Pathfinder program happen and it would not function without the assistance of all of the parents who volunteer to help. Pathfinders is not a “child minding service” and we request the help of all parents to assist the club throughout the year. We understand that you may not all be campers and that is fine, however there are many different jobs that you can help with. The Pathfinder application form contains a section for you to let us know what you feel comfortable assisting with, we would ask that each family volunteer to help out with at least one event during the year.

Parents also often ask, “Can I come camping with my child?” It is always great to have extra helpers for camps and you are most welcome to attend. All parent helpers must have completed their Working with Children Check and supply the relevant number and approval prior to attending. However, it is very important to note that Pathfinder camps are not “family camps”. Everyone who attends needs to assist with the supervision and running of the camps (and if possible assist with transport). The children need to be under the guidance of the Pathfinders leaders and counselors in order to achieve the goals of the camp. It is also important to allow the children to be independent and self sufficient so that they can grow through their camping experiences and not rely on mum or dad to do things for them. When we divide the Pathfinders into smaller groups for activities or hiking, often parents are not with their own children. This is also designed to let the Pathfinders learn some new skills and independence through their challenges and not rely on their parents for support. They are big enough to do it themselves! If you would like to assist us with camps please let us know either on the application form or during the year.

We also need the cooperation of parents to support and encourage their children to live up to the expectations of a true Pathfinder. This includes turning up to all of the meetings and being on time, dressing in the correct uniform, and completing honours or craft as needed at home. This will enable the club to run smoothly and efficiently and allow us to focus on running the activities through which we hope the kids will learn, grow and create memories which will last for the rest of their life.